Matt Damon Interview

Matt Damon Reveals His Insecurities

Quick Bio

Matt Damon is an actor whose work and public personae are often inseparable. As much an activist as an actor, many of his career choices are intended to promote his worldview more than further his acting career.

Those decisions might feel right for him, but the agenda-based calls piled up a few box-office underachievers recently. While he’s starred in entertaining movies, like the Ocean's Eleven series, The Departed, True Grit, and the Bourne franchise, heavier themed projects like Che, Green Zone, Invictus, and The Informant! were critical successes that never broke out into full pop-culture success.

With Contagion, Damon might be looking to combine entertainment and message more successfully. Alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, and Laurence Fishburne, he stars in a virus pandemic thriller that examines the horrors of a possible deadly outbreak set against a backdrop of international politics.

Damon connected with AskMen during the press roll-out of Contagion to talk about why he was so eager to get sick on the big screen.

We've seen plague movies before -- going back to The Andromeda Strain up through Outbreak or 28 Days Later. Why make this movie now?

Matt Damon: When I read it, I thought it was a really smart movie. I was getting ready to do something else when Steven Soderbergh got in touch and told me he had something he really needed to make now because he thought it was so timely.

He sent it over to me with a note that said, “Read this, and then go wash your hands.” When I read it, I really wanted to be a part of it. It was such a fast, riveting story that was horrifying but touching, also.

You've played every kind of man, from spies to manic depressives to a terrified husband in this film. Which come easier for you?

MD: If the director is good and the script is good, they’re all easy. If that’s not the case, any role can be difficult.

If the real Matt Damon faced a crisis like this with his own family, how would he react?

MD: Now that I have kids, I’m probably more overprotective than I’ve ever been. My wife’s nickname for me is “red alert.” I sometimes check just to see if the kids are breathing. But I try not to be a helicopter parent.

After the Northridge earthquake, I had a flashlight by my bed for weeks. But, eventually, I move on.

Early into this film, you're a man who lost his wife to the virus. You're a married man with kids. How did you look to portray that?

MD: I was worried about that when I read the script because it does take place very early in the film before we really know who this man is I’m playing. So, we went and talked to the doctors in this field who have to deal with survivors and tell them loved ones are dead. We asked them what reactions they get, and they explained what they would see.

If it’s the kind of death when you’re not expecting someone to die, [the doctors] don’t use words like, “They passed away.” They say, “They did die.” They’re very clear. They expect the victims not to get it because it’s too much to take in at that moment. The survivors ask the doctor about the dead victim: “Can I talk to them?” It doesn’t register. That’s how I played it.

You obviously make political movies. Is there a statement in Contagion?

MD: I didn’t see politics in this movie. I don’t see the possibilities in this film politically.

Looking at this movie and the societal chaos that results from the deadly virus, does the movie encourage us all to get a gun?

MD: Looking at this movie, if it was a straight-up horror film, it’d be around the second act when the zombie apocalypse would begin. That’s where the zombies would come, and you’re going to want a gun at that moment. But this isn’t that movie.